Collection
Extraction of Critical Minerals and Battery Metals
Critical minerals and battery metals play a pivotal role in shaping our modern world, driving technological advancements and sustainable energy solutions. These minerals, which include elements like lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earth metals, are fundamental components of batteries that power electric vehicles, portable electronics, and renewable energy storage systems. As the global demand for clean energy and electric mobility continues to surge, the significance of these resources cannot be overstated. Ensuring a steady and reliable supply of critical minerals is essential for reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, mitigating climate change, and transitioning towards a greener, more sustainable future. This collection aims to draw the focus on the research advancements on the mineral processing and extractive metallurgy for critical minerals and battery metals from both primary and secondary resources. The elements/minerals of interest include lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, rare earth metals, copper, graphite, zinc, vanadium, phosphate and others.
Editors
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Fangyu Liu, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Dr. Fangyu Liu is a senior process engineer at Hatch Ltd. He earned his Ph.D. degree in metallurgical and materials engineering from the Colorado School of Mines with a research focus on the electro-reduction of rare earth elements in the molten fluoride system. He also holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in metallurgical engineering from Central South University, China. His academic and engineering background involves hydrometallurgy, pyrometallurgy, electrochemistry, recycling, and mineral processing with a recent focus on critical metals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, rare earths, and copper.
